x - ᴀ Tʜᴏᴜsᴀɴᴅ ᴀɴᴅ Oɴᴇ Lɪᴇs -
by FyreMyst
Summary: They hunt us down because we're different. Nothing other than that separates us, yet they can live free while the only place they say we deserve is locked up - or dead. They weave a story of a thousand and one lies, trying to bring us down, trying to kill us all. But we're not so different from them. . . right? - Full summary inside -
1. Title Page and Things

These ℓιєѕ,  
these ℓιєѕ,  
these ℓιєѕ of mine,  
I tried,  
I tried,  
but these ℓιєѕ are mine.  
I kept these away,  
these ℓιєѕ away,  
but I can't hide  
what you want to find.  
You make me like  
a shard of glass,  
my ℓιєѕ as bright as sunlight.  
You told me you didn't want to know,  
that my ℓιєѕ should stay my own,  
but you were the one to tell  
and it's all  
**Yσυя.**  
**Fαυℓт.**

* * *

\- - Weł¢øмe

Hello, and welcome to Lies: a spontaneous story that exploded from my brain, begging to be told. I've been dying to write fantasy and futuristic for a long while now, and luckily this thing bashed me on the head just in time. I'm excited to write something fast-paced, off-the-seat, and, most importantly, magical!

* * *

\- - Sчиøρšıš

They hunt us down because we're different. Nothing other than that separates us, yet they can live free while the only place they say we deserve is locked up or dead. They weave a story of a thousand and one lies, trying to bring us down, trying to kill us all. But we're not so different from them. . . right?

All we're trying to do is fit in. We know we are all the same, somewhere deep down. We don't look different, or speak different, or act different from them. But why do they get to be free, when we have to weave a thousand and one lies just to stay alive?

We're all being tracked down. Slowly, but surely dying. We have tolerated it for a long time now; there were few of us, and we didn't want to interfere. Some of us have snapped, we know. We've become killers to save our own hides. Now the question is:

When will all this finally go too far?

* * *

\- - Cħαяα¢тeяš (as they appear; major characters)

Hail - A blue-grey she-cat with light blue eyes.

Thorn - A large, dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes. Hail's brother.

Flutter - A small, sickly light grey she-cat with blue eyes. Hail's sister.

Scarlet - A black she-cat with amber eyes.

Osprey - A lithe black-and-white patched tom with yellow eyes.

Hawthorne - A light brown mottled tom with green eyes.

* * *

\- - Eχтяαš

For anything else that doesn't fit anywhere else. Check here often for extra tidbits of information such as deleted scenes, what might have been, or parts told by other points of view. Anything can go here, so keep checking in! Important things though, will have a note at the bottom of the chapter telling I put them in 'Extras'. This is where I mean. Don't forget or you'll miss out!


	2. Of Ice and Shadow

**\- - Of Ice and Shadow**

_Prologue_

* * *

_You'll be fine, Moonbreeze, you're doing fine. Good. Yes, there's a tom. And a she-cat. And another! Good. There. Now here you are, you'd better name them.  
_  
_The tom is Thorn, for being the eldest and only tom, he will grow strong. The second... is she supposed to be like this._

_... even cats in the stars need a name, Moonbreeze._

_She'll be Flutter then. Flutter. . ._

_And you'll be Hail, your name will surely protect you from-_

And then I woke up.

I kept my tail over my nose and didn't move, yet my eyes were open behind the grey fluff and my breathing was rough as I tried to keep it level and slow as in sleep. Adrenaline sucked all the grogginess out of my limbs faster than any time in the sun could.

"Softly. . .be careful." I shuddered at the mew, right outside of where I lay between the roots of an old oak. I listened. Two cats, maybe three. They saw me now; I could feel their breath on the air, though they were not close enough for the breeze to ruffle my fur. They were wary, as they right as should be.

After all, I was dangerous. Though to what extent they wouldn't know until after the fact. Maybe then they would have thought twice about tracking me down when I wanted to be alone. I was always. . . irritable of the inconvenience of dealing with this type of cats. One would think they would've gotten the message by now.

Suddenly I flicked my tail away, catching one of the cats on the nose. I rolled my shoulders, closing my eyes and yawning. I ignored the cats standing only a tail-length away, instead rolling on my back, exposing my soft, white stomach to the sun, purring in the warmth. "Here to enjoy the morning sun with me?" I said lightly, not needing to see the cats to know they were shocked in place as if their paws had grown roots.

I laughed. "Hmm? Lost for words you are?" I stood up with a grin, finding the three toms staring at me. I saw a paw twitch and turned my gaze to the owner's grey eyes, lightly touching the feeling deep within me and using it to push into him, keeping him still. The green eyes and hazel fell without resistance, all without me doing anything more tiring than a twitch of a whisker.

I padded around them, enjoying the soft rustle of leaves and moss playing in my ears as I walked in silence of the forest. "Much better without you three crashing through it," I said, settling back into the hollow I slept in. I let my eyes glance to see their reactions, only looking for no power whipped through my gaze. They couldn't move their paws - what fun is taunting when your prey can just run away? - but they were free to talk and smile and flick their tails.

Unfortunately, however, I was not rewarded with any of these reactions. I sat watching the forest in silence, waiting for one of them to break. Neither of the three gave me anything other than fear, and - from one - irritation. I was interested in that one. Hazel eyes.

I waited until the sun had finally freed itself from the horizon and was a full globe in the sky. Then I growled, irked even further that I was not able to get them to speak so easily. It had been a while since I last heard a cat pleading me for freedom, for their life.

I had places to go that day, and didn't have time for this waiting nonsense. I flicked a thought out, calling upon the shadows to cool the air, forming it above the cats and chilling it until it was dense and hard as wood. I settled the air down and used a last thought to call upon the last bit of cold, taking the water and freezing it into silvery boots over their paws. It only took a small bit of energy to keep the cold shadows alive, excited and wriggly as kits to be doing something other than sitting as shadows do, only ever attached to one object and never getting to see anything but the same patch of earth day after day.

"How much are they offering now?"

I hadn't left room for silence, and it wasn't but heartbeats of grimaces and hisses of pain before the hazel-eyed tom responded. "Territory to anyone able to kill you, leadership to anyone able to take you back alive," he hissed, knowing enough not to look at me as he spoke.

I gave a short laugh. "Same as last moon then. They have nothing better to give for me, hm?" Inside I was. . .contented with the knowledge. I was dangerous enough for such a big reward, a reward great enough that cats were all over the woods looking for me. I could always move away, just go, but. . . _Where's the fun in that? Besides I have a score to settle still._

I lifted a paw, letting the claws slide out to catch the sun like teardrops in the grey tufted fur. It would be so easy, killing the three of them right then. They couldn't fight. They couldn't run. I trapped them more steadily than I could've with my two paws. Maybe that was why everyone was trying to kill us. . . we were powerful.

But we were still just cats.

I laughed lightly, letting go of the thin strand of thought that kept the shadows at their feet. I trotted away, leaving the ice to melt by itself in the warm sun. They would free themselves. . . eventually. "Well, good luck killing this cat and claiming your prize!" I called back, my tail high as I pranced away, laughing.

"Scarlet is coming!" I heard a yowl from far behind, a mere echo in the trees from the distance I had travelled from the oak. Yet that softest of voice sent ice around my chest as cold and hard as the ice around those cats' paws. My heart beat against it, aching as it pressed against the cold.

Leaves kicked up as my pace turned from a leisurely trot to running through the trees, calling on the wind to press up against me, pushing me faster as I ran.

I was scared.

Scarlet was coming.

Scarlet was coming for_ me_.

* * *

**\- - Welcome, to the world of Lies! **

**Well, the world isn't a lie... it's only in the story Lies... ah well.**

**Welcome! xD**

**I'm so excited to bring this to the world of fanfiction and all the people who dwell within. I don't know about you guys (and gals), but I love writing some good old fantasy magic scenes, and can't wait to dive deeper into this conflict among others scattered within the area at the time. **

**So I must thank you for making it this far, and hopefully I can pull you onto this adventure with me as we all explore what will be and what is to come. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story thus far. Follows/Favorites and comments are appreciated, as is feedback on what you thought of it.**

**Thanks for coming, and enjoy the rest of the story!**

**\- - Fyre**


	3. Let the Magic Begin

_I hardly felt when_ I stopped running. One moment I was on my feet, and the next I was. . . not. I hadn't gone far at all, but my way through the trails was untraceable. I sent wind to ruffle the leaves back into place and draw my scent away. I sent energy into the plants, curing the bruises I made as I whipped past. I laid false trails winding into the heart of the trees, swirling like snowflakes and smoke.

But I had no doubt that Scarlet could find me.

Scarlet would find me.

Yet I couldn't continue on, my energy sapped from nudging the wind to do my bidding. Wind was a fickle being, I found, unlike shadows or water or ice or fire. Wind was uncontrollable; it did what it wanted to do, and once it got an idea into its head it was nigh impossible to make it do something else. It was difficult making the wind listen, and even worse keeping it on a task, stubborn as it was defying you, but wishing for change every heartbeat it was doing as you asked.

This was as far as I could go staying hidden, and I knew it. I couldn't afford to waste any more energy running, for I knew Scarlet would find me anyhow, and would be far less exhausted than I to begin with. I needed to save my strength.

With a groan I pushed myself to my feet, looking over the place I had collapsed in. A cluster of rocks stabbed out of the ground a few tail-lengths away, the tallest point a good four or five cats tall. Stone outcroppings like these were common in this part of the forest, but that didn't make it any less of good fortune that one was so close nearby.

The trees around were sturdy oaks, maples, beeches and elms, a couple lithe willows and elegant birches standing like spirits between the aged soldiers. It wasn't anything extraordinary, but it was what I had to work with. I explored the surrounding area with my eyes and paws, finding places of shadow and light, of things that would burn and things that would give me moisture and water, and of places where air and wind could wreak havoc about.

There was no doubt in my mind that Scarlet would bring a dozen fighters.

But none of those fighters were quite like me.

I found areas of peat-moss that would be able to sustain a good inferno, and, sheltered under the stones, a small puddle I could use to draw in more water from the air if need be. It was sun-high before I quit my inspection, settling under the shadows of the rocks and drawing a few curious shadows to cloak my light fur from curious eyes.

Now all I could do was wait and hope the traps I laid were as effective as I hoped.

Maybe then I wouldn't die the moment I saw Scarlet's paws.

Stop, I thought, flicking an ear. The party in my company froze as they were, statues of cats littered in the trees. I walked forward a couple tail-lengths, poking a paw lightly in a patch of moss.

I smiled as it fell away under my claws, revealing a small hole, spikes set in the bottom. "Stay behind me and only step where I do. Otherwise you will end up dead. Make a noise and it'll be by my paws," I said, my voice hardly above a whisper. Yet I was sure the dozen cats in my guard heard.

I waited, then started again, my pawsteps shadowed by a dozen others as they wove between cleverly laid death traps on either side. You've lost your touch, Hail, you've grown soft. She was close. I smiled. I did a lot of smiling; the rush of the hunt and the imminent closeness of the kill made me giddy. Though I didn't let this interfere with my tracking, no, I could only let this happiness out through smiling.

So I did.

I sent my mind out, searching with senses more powerful than my eyes or ears. Motion, heat, life, death, plants, animals, streams, earth, light, energy. And then there was a spot, white among a sea of greens and blues and browns. It wasn't hard to hone in on the area. Carefully, I lead the cats around the clearing, speaking through thoughts to move them through the patches of white and yellow energy that were Hail's magic.

Now thoroughly encircled about the clearing of the rocks, I moved, walking into the sunlight. It took only a miniscule amount of energy to bend this light unto my paws, and so I did, leaving bright blue glowing pawprints as I moved. I found that a bit of fear helped in a fight, and that intimidation was half the battle. Hail was motionless as I approached the stones in which she hid, which, to my irritation, frightened me.

She should be running. Or fighting. Moving somehow to try and alter her fate.

But she was not, and it scared me.

Yet I pushed through, summoning my mouth into the most frightening, arrogant grin I could muster. With a twitch of my tail - unnecessary, as thought required no physical movement, yet I did so for the effect - I called in a rush of sunshine to fling away the shadows, leaving the blue-grey she-cat exposed, her eyes like ice flashing into mine.

I called in the store of energy to the edge of my consciousness, feeling the rumble of it in my paws and chest. It was a tide, one only held back by a whisker. I grinned, pushing a paw edged in flickering sapphire flames forward. "Did you really think you can hide from your own sister?"

I laughed as her eyes dulled in fear, finally unleashing the roar of fury as I sent out my mind to hers.

**{{ A little short for my chapters, but here is the action! Hopefully more up soon, but this is all I have pre-written so far. }}**


	4. Small Flower

**{{ Another update; Two chapters in two days? /bites writing. Yep, it's real. }}**

"No, don't kill me, I'm only a puny mouse!" I cried. Claws flashed in the corners of my vision, and I yelped.

Then a cat leaped onto my back from behind, teeth around my scruff. I yowled and did my duty, letting my limbs quiver and my head fall as if I were dead. I purred as the the two kits yipped their victory into the air, waiting until I heard their paws scrabble off before standing and dusting the earth off my fur.

"You're so kind to your sister's kits; I wish I'd had an uncle like you growing up!" I felt a hard paw on my side and the breath whooshed out of me in a rush, but I smiled as I looked over to Hawthorne's laughing gold eyes, trying to catch my breath. The tom meant well, even if he didn't fully realize how big he was and how small I am.

Or at least he didn't care about that fact.

"Weren't Cirrus and Dune enough of uncles to you?" I flashed a paw out, catching the tabby tom in the shoulder teasingly.

Hawthorne shot me a look of disgust so utterly dramatic I fell to the ground in a fit of laughter. I could hardly hear his muttered protests, "not really funny - think that's good? - at least I didn't have to deal with Tansy in the nursery," among other comments, most of them insulting me, my stupidity, and what must have birthed me for me to have that stupidity. The tirade only redoubled my amusement.

Finally Hawthorne gave up, instead deciding to join me with a roll of his eyes, then a hesitant smile. "They really were bad."

By then I was on my feet, my excitement contained to facial expression although the grin hurt as it contained all the laughter for ages on end. I brushed my tail over Hawthorne's shoulder, "I know, friend, I very much know it. You tell me often enough." Without warning I started forward, diving through the ferns into the green forest, leaving Hawthorne to follow on his own as I knew he would.

I had smelled something, faintly, but distinct.

Ferns and bushes caressed my sides as I cut through the wood, paws thrumming against the earth as I gained speed.

There was no mistaking the metallic tang of blood now.

I knew Hawthorne had caught the scent as well when he roughly pushed past me, the thick tom suddenly consumed by a strength of will that surpassed the barriers of his flesh, allowing him to tear down the track faster than I despite my innate swiftness. The forest echoed with his screams, the only word out of his mouth: "Bluebell!"

I broke out of the bushes to see Hawthorne's large, brown form over by a fallen tree. A wail came from behind him, and although I couldn't see past Hawthorne I knew it to be Bluebell's. "Osprey! Fetch Jess!" The tom turned his head to me, eyes wide and pleading.

I shook my head. "There's no time. We'll have to help her through this."

A short silence followed, the only sound the wind and the flutters of ragged breathing from Bluebell. I had to pad forward to catch Hawthorne's voice. "Jess said she was strong, that the kits would be just fine - so much blood!"

I realized Hawthorne wouldn't be much help to me now, so shocked over his mate's condition. I knew little to nothing on medicine, but I closed my eyes, trying to remember hearing things and seeing things that could help.

Then a memory struck me.

"_Good, now what does this one do?" A light brown she-cat asked, her green eyes bright as she pawed forward a clump of green leaves. _

_A grey she-cat sat in front of her, every once in a while her paws quivering or her breath catching. But the she-cat hardly noticed, excited as she was over the herbs. "Tansy, for infection," she recited after leaning down to smell them._

_Jess purred, pulling the set of leaves back and setting another in front of the she-cat. "Raspberry, good for helping with kitting." _

_I leapt out of the shelter of the bush with a yowl, scattering the leaves with tiny paws as I pretended they were mice. The two she-cats laughed as I rolled in the grass, poking at the raspberry when it came near them and brushing them back into the air at me to catch. One leaf settled on my nose, and for a moment I could see the detail on the leaf before I scrunched up my nose and sneezed, shooting it away._

I released the memory, keeping the picture of the herb in mind as I turned, peering into the forest in search of the matching leaves. Luckily, I spotted some right in front of my nose by the fallen log where the purple-blue fronds arched over the crumbling wood, plenty of leaves covering the area.

I rushed over, checking to make sure the leaves matched the one in my kithood memory: light green top, darker on the bottom; a little fuzzy, more round but spiky. Sure enough, they matched. I plucked as many from the bush as I could, not bothering when the angry guardian thorns clawed me for stealing away their precious foliage.

Hawthorne was where I had left him, not doing anything but mourning Bluebell's condition. I growled. "Go fetch Jess; you're not helping and you'll run faster than I right now," I spoke bluntly, my jaws full of the leaves. My eyes narrowed when Hawthorne did nothing more than twitch. I hissed, sputtering through the obstruction in my mouth. "Go! Or she'll die!"

This spurred the massive tom into action. I had to duck as a mountain of a cat burst past me, threatening to take me off my feet. I shook my fur lightly and took Hawthorne's place by Bluebell's side.

There was blood, thin pools of it staining the moss surrounding the small ginger-and-white she-cat's stomach and hind. I put the leaves down near her head, drawing my tongue over her ear so she would notice. I was no expert at birthing kits, but even someone with half a brain could see something was wrong. Very much wrong.

"Eat the herbs, they'll make it easier," I whispered, trying to sound reassuring. My breath was fluttering in worry, however, and I almost felt like a couple kits might pop out of me instead from the butterflies in my stomach and my skin crawling from the blood. Another spasm rippled down Bluebell's flank, and she groaned, not even having the strength to yowl or scream.

I grimaced, looking away from her pained face. It hurt, that I couldn't even do much to help. _The herbs. _"Bluebell, you have to eat the raspberry." _Otherwise you'll die… _I nosed the serrated leaves closer to her muzzle, tapping my nose to the corner of her mouth to get her to open her jaws.

But just as I thought she would manage to get them in, another ripple came and she flinched away, moaning. I quickly took the herbs in my own mouth, remembering the many times I had been healed with the chewed up poultices smeared over my cuts. Maybe a paste would be easier for her.

I went to work on the leaves with a vengeance, knowing every second I wasted more of Bluebell's life ebbed away. Though I had to close my eyes against the bitter taste, I forced my teeth up and down, grinding the leaves between them before spitting out a wad of green slime. It didn't look appealing - it looked more like some cat puked pondweed - and just looking at it twisted my stomach in knots. But it could keep Bluebell alive, and that was all that mattered.

I touched my nose to her mouth again, and her jaws reflexively parted. I dabbed a small bit of the mush into her mouth with a paw, immediately wiping the remains into the grass with a shiver. It truly did look disgusting. I sat and watched with wide eyes, even when Bluebell didn't seem to be improving. Rather, she looked even more tired, making less and less noise with her breathing growing more and more ragged.

After what felt like a lifetime, though it had to have been mere heartbeats, I leaped up, not able to keep still with all the tension in my limbs.

I gazed into the trees where we had come from and where Hawthorne had disappeared, my blue eyes flashing for signs of the rescue party.

Bluebell couldn't wait much longer.

Then I caught a glimpse of leaves rustling, and I was flattened to the ground. I hissed, thrashing my paws, striking nothing but air.

I wasn't the one dying, Hawthorne wasn't going to stop to see if I was okay.

A lighter brown form dashed out of the hole Hawthorne had made in the foliage, ignoring me as I struggled to my paws. "Osprey, how was she?" the she-cat asked, pushing Hawthorne away with a hiss.

I stepped forward, keeping my eyes away from Bluebell and Jess. "I don't know; I remember you saying raspberry was good for kitting, but I only managed to get a pawful in her. She doesn't look good…"

I heard paws rustling the ground followed by a grunt. "I've seen worse. She has a chance." I took that with pawful of thorns, not sure if Jess had actually meant it or if she was just saying it for Hawthorne and Bluebell herself if she could still hear and understand them.

"W-what are you doing?" Hawthorne's deep voice cracked as he spoke, and although I didn't look at him I knew panic was in his eyes despite Jess's words.

There was a pause, with more rustlings before the she-cat spoke. "Finishing what Osprey started; she needs raspberry. You can help by licking her fur the wrong way to warm her and give her a bit of strength."

I heard the snap of a branch behind me and jumped in shock, my fur fluffed as I whipped around to see who - or what - it was. My claws snicked out, ready to fight anything off if it was going to harm Jess or Bluebell.

I settled when I recognised Flutter, the grey she-cat's breathing almost as rugged as Bluebell's. Flutter was young, only two or three moons older than I, yet she couldn't run or jump or hunt like the young adult she was. She said it was from fighting off a sickness, one that still haunted her. It was an odd illness that no other cat could catch, and that Flutter said would keep her like an elder until she became one.

A new respect for the she-cat came when I realized how quickly she must have travelled to keep up with Hawthorne and Jess - two strong, full grown cats - and how much pain the journey must have caused her. I jumped to her side, letting her lean on me as I guided her to Jess, Hawthorne and Bluebell. "Thank you," she wheezed, letting out a cough as if to clear her throat. "Move away; I need to see her to treat her."

Jess and Hawthorne obeyed instantly, letting Flutter in to see Bluebell. Both she-cats were tiny in frailness, yet Bluebell had hidden herself well before kitting, and even Flutter's form was enough to conceal her from view across the clearing.

Jess and Hawthorne stood behind me in tense silence, our eyes all on the fallen log and what was behind. I half expected Jess to attempt to help or at least offer advice to the other healer, but she stood with us without moving a whisker.

We kept our vigil until the sun had drawn the shadows out far from beneath the tree; the golden orb was threatening to tip over the edge of the horizon when finally Flutter stood. I blinked, this change confusing me after the many moments of still silence.

"Come on, Hawthorne, your kits will want to see their father," Flutter said after none of the three moved forward; I could see her eyes were tired, but bright. "Bluebell will be okay."


End file.
